Deutsch: Alltagswissen / Español: Sentido común / Português: Senso comum / Français: Sens commun / Italiano: Senso comune
Commonsense in psychology refers to the basic, intuitive understanding of the world that most humans share, enabling them to navigate social interactions, physical environments, and everyday decision-making without explicit instruction. This concept bridges cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and artificial intelligence, as it encompasses both innate and learned knowledge that facilitates efficient reasoning. While often taken for granted, commonsense represents a foundational layer of human cognition that remains challenging to replicate in machines.
General Description
Commonsense in psychology is defined as the collection of background knowledge, heuristics, and intuitive judgments that individuals use to interpret situations, predict outcomes, and make decisions in everyday life. Unlike formal logic or specialized expertise, commonsense relies on implicit assumptions about causality, human behavior, and physical laws that are rarely articulated but universally applied. For example, the understanding that objects fall downward due to gravity or that people typically avoid walking into walls reflects commonsense reasoning.
This form of knowledge is acquired through a combination of evolutionary predispositions, early childhood experiences, and cultural transmission. Developmental psychologists, such as Jean Piaget, have demonstrated that children gradually internalize commonsense principles through interaction with their environment, a process that begins in infancy and continues throughout adolescence. Theories of embodied cognition further suggest that commonsense is deeply tied to sensory-motor experiences, as abstract concepts (e.g., "time" or "space") are often grounded in physical metaphors derived from bodily interactions with the world.
In cognitive science, commonsense is frequently contrasted with formal reasoning systems, which operate on explicit rules and symbolic representations. While formal systems excel at precise calculations (e.g., mathematical proofs), commonsense enables rapid, context-sensitive judgments under uncertainty. This duality has led researchers to explore how commonsense knowledge is organized in the human mind, with frameworks such as "mental models" (Johnson-Laird, 1983) or "scripts" (Schank & Abelson, 1977) proposing structured representations of everyday scenarios (e.g., "going to a restaurant").
Artificial intelligence (AI) research has highlighted the complexity of commonsense by attempting to encode it in computational systems. Projects like Cyc (Lenat, 1995) or ConceptNet (Liu & Singh, 2004) aim to formalize commonsense knowledge into machine-readable databases, but these efforts often struggle with the ambiguity, context-dependence, and cultural variability inherent in human reasoning. For instance, the statement "She opened the door" implies a sequence of actions (e.g., turning a handle, applying force) that humans intuitively understand but require explicit programming for machines.
Theoretical Foundations
Commonsense in psychology is underpinned by several theoretical frameworks that explain its acquisition, representation, and application. One key perspective is the "theory-theory" approach, which posits that humans develop intuitive theories about the world (e.g., physics, psychology) that guide their expectations and inferences. For example, infants as young as six months exhibit surprise when objects appear to violate physical laws (e.g., floating in mid-air), suggesting an innate or early-developing commonsense understanding of gravity (Baillargeon, 1994).
Another influential model is the "dual-process theory" (Kahneman, 2011), which distinguishes between two modes of thinking: System 1 (fast, automatic, and intuitive) and System 2 (slow, effortful, and logical). Commonsense reasoning predominantly relies on System 1, which operates efficiently but is prone to biases and errors (e.g., the "availability heuristic," where judgments are based on readily available examples). This explains why commonsense can sometimes lead to incorrect conclusions, such as the misconception that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones (a notion refuted by Galileo's experiments).
Cultural psychology further complicates the study of commonsense by demonstrating how its content varies across societies. While some principles (e.g., "objects do not spontaneously disappear") may be universal, others (e.g., norms around personal space or eye contact) are culturally specific. This variability challenges the notion of commonsense as a monolithic, homogeneous construct and underscores the role of socialization in shaping intuitive knowledge.
Application Area
- Social Cognition: Commonsense enables individuals to interpret social cues, predict others' intentions, and navigate interpersonal relationships. For example, recognizing sarcasm or understanding that a frown may indicate displeasure relies on commonsense inferences about human emotions and communication. Research in social psychology has shown that deficits in commonsense reasoning are associated with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), where individuals may struggle with implicit social rules (Baron-Cohen, 1995).
- Decision-Making: In everyday life, commonsense guides choices under uncertainty, such as avoiding dangerous situations or selecting appropriate responses in conversations. Behavioral economics has documented how commonsense heuristics can both facilitate and hinder rational decision-making. For instance, the "representativeness heuristic" leads people to judge probabilities based on stereotypes (e.g., assuming a quiet person is more likely to be a librarian than a salesperson), which can result in systematic errors (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974).
- Artificial Intelligence: The replication of commonsense in AI systems is a long-standing challenge, as it requires machines to handle ambiguity, context, and implicit knowledge. Natural language processing (NLP) models, such as large language models (LLMs), have made progress in generating human-like text but often fail to grasp the underlying commonsense implications of statements (e.g., misinterpreting "The trophy would not fit in the suitcase because it was too big" without resolving the pronoun "it"). Benchmarks like the Winograd Schema Challenge (Levesque et al., 2012) are designed to test AI systems' commonsense reasoning abilities.
- Education and Development: Commonsense plays a critical role in learning, as it provides the foundation for acquiring more complex knowledge. Educational psychologists emphasize the importance of building on students' intuitive understandings (e.g., of physics or biology) to correct misconceptions and foster deeper conceptual learning. For example, teaching Newtonian mechanics may require addressing commonsense beliefs about motion that conflict with scientific principles (e.g., the idea that a moving object requires a continuous force to sustain its motion).
Risks and Challenges
- Overreliance on Intuition: Commonsense reasoning can lead to errors when applied to domains where formal logic or empirical evidence contradicts intuitive judgments. For example, the "gambler's fallacy" (the belief that a random event is more likely to occur because it has not happened recently) stems from a commonsense misunderstanding of probability. Such biases can have serious consequences in fields like medicine or finance, where decisions based on intuition may overlook statistical realities.
- Cultural Bias: Commonsense is not universal; what is considered "obvious" in one culture may be nonsensical or offensive in another. This variability can lead to misunderstandings in cross-cultural interactions, such as differing interpretations of gestures, personal space, or time management. For instance, the commonsense assumption that "being on time" is universally valued may not hold in cultures where punctuality is viewed as less critical.
- Deficits in Clinical Populations: Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ASD) or brain injuries may exhibit impaired commonsense reasoning, affecting their ability to function independently. For example, difficulty understanding social norms or predicting others' reactions can lead to social isolation or conflict. Clinical interventions often aim to explicitly teach commonsense skills that neurotypical individuals acquire naturally.
- AI Limitations: The inability of AI systems to fully replicate human commonsense poses risks in applications where context-sensitive reasoning is critical, such as autonomous vehicles or medical diagnosis. For example, an AI might fail to recognize that a child running into the street requires immediate evasive action, as it lacks the commonsense understanding of danger and human behavior. Addressing this gap remains a major hurdle in AI development.
Similar Terms
- Tacit Knowledge: Refers to knowledge that is difficult to articulate or transfer, often acquired through experience rather than explicit instruction. While commonsense is a subset of tacit knowledge, the latter encompasses a broader range of skills (e.g., riding a bicycle or playing an instrument) that are not necessarily shared universally.
- Intuition: Describes the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning. Commonsense often relies on intuition, but intuition can also apply to domains requiring specialized expertise (e.g., a doctor's "gut feeling" about a diagnosis), whereas commonsense is typically limited to everyday scenarios.
- Folk Psychology: The commonsense understanding of human behavior and mental states, such as beliefs, desires, and emotions. Folk psychology is a specific application of commonsense to social cognition and is often studied in philosophy of mind and cognitive science (e.g., Dennett, 1987).
- Heuristics: Cognitive shortcuts or rules of thumb that simplify decision-making. While commonsense often employs heuristics, the latter are more narrowly defined as strategies for solving specific types of problems (e.g., the "anchoring heuristic" in negotiations).
Summary
Commonsense in psychology represents the bedrock of human cognition, enabling individuals to navigate the physical and social world with efficiency and adaptability. It encompasses a vast array of implicit knowledge, from basic physical principles to complex social norms, that is acquired through development, experience, and cultural transmission. While commonsense reasoning is indispensable for everyday functioning, it is not infallible and can lead to systematic biases or errors, particularly in contexts where formal logic or empirical evidence contradicts intuition. The study of commonsense bridges multiple disciplines, including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and artificial intelligence, each of which seeks to understand its mechanisms, limitations, and applications. Challenges such as cultural variability, clinical deficits, and the replication of commonsense in AI systems underscore the complexity of this seemingly straightforward concept. Ultimately, commonsense remains a dynamic and multifaceted phenomenon that continues to shape human behavior and technological innovation.
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